BANSHEE PHANTOM V3.2 REVIEW

Words by Michael Walker  |  Photos by Caitlin Wilkinson

Banshee has been producing mountain bikes for the best part of 20 years now. Rooted deeply in the gravity and freeride side of mountain biking, they have always offered bikes that are unique and stand out from the crowd. Looking at their modern-day lineup, they now offer a wide range of bikes that cover almost all disciplines. All feature a healthy dose of that freeride heritage, paired with some unique design features.

We have had their shortest travel full suspension offering – the Phantom – on review over the last six months. Standing out from the crowd, the Banshee Phantom has made us ask questions of how much travel is necessary to have a good time on rowdy trails. Read on to find out why this short travel “downcountry” ripper left us impressed beyond its numbers.

ABOUT THE BANSHEE PHANTOM V3.2

FRAME AND FEATURES | Banshee constructs their frames exclusively from 7005 series aluminum, featuring custom hydroformed tubing; 3D forged sections; and internally ribbed seat and chain stays. They believe that their choice in materials and construction techniques offer a range of benefits over the more commonly used 6000 series alloys. These benefits are centered around strength, fatigue and stiffness.

The Phantom – like all of Banshees current line of full suspension bikes – carries a set of detailed features that helps it to stand out from the crowd both aesthetically and technically. The front triangle is built around a large 3D-forged shock cage, which contains all the linkage gear and isolates the loads generated by the suspension keeping them in the strongest part of the frame. This also allows Banshee to ensure a higher level of concentricity in their framesets during the manufacturing process, which should help the suspension to run smooth with little friction from misalignment.

The frameset also features internally ribbed chain and seat stays; full internal cable routing; bottle mounts with room for a generously sized water bottle, and a modular dropout system. These replaceable dropouts function not only as a geometry adjusting flip chip, but also allow for non-boost wheelsets to be installed in the frame.

In terms of finishes, the Phantom is currently offered in two different color ways: lacquered raw as tested; or “anodized black” which is significantly more durable than standard paint finishes. To top things off, there is also a neat 3D head badge up front.

SUSPENSION | The Phantom’s 115mm of suspension travel revolves around a twin-link setup dubbed KS2. The forged frame sections and shock cage results in a dual link system which has minimal rotational friction, making for a supple ride which can generate traction freely and efficiently.

The axle path initially moves rearward, which helps carry speed through rough and square edge hits. Combined with high initial Anti Squat, this also helps to generate more speed when pumping through terrain and when landing drops and jumps. The Anti Squat has been specifically tuned to maximize pedaling efficiency whilst in the sag range. This Anti Squat value reduces as you go deeper into travel, minimizing pedal kickback to offer a neutral and supportive feel through the roughest of terrain.

Banshee generally designs around longer stroke shocks than most other brands, which leads to a leverage ratio typically lower than average. The Phantom averages around 2.3:1.

Up front, the Phantom can be specified with anything ranging from 120mm to 140mm, with our review build sitting right in the middle with a 130mm Rockshox Pike Ultimate leading the charge.

GEOMETRY | It would be fair to say that the Banshee Phantom carries fairly typical trail geometry. It doesn’t lean too heavily into the efficient XC realm, nor does it find itself in the extra-aggressive and slack side of things. It carries traits from either end of the spectrum, with a 66 degree head angle in the neutral position paired with a 76.9 degree seat tube. There is a fairly low BB at 342mm in the neutral position, dropping right down to 333 in the low position. This combines with the 445mm chain stay length to keep you feeling confident and in the center of the bike at all times while descending. The reach figures range from 445mm in the size medium up to 495mm for size XL, jumping in 25mm increments per size. It’s worth noting Banshee does not offer the Phantom in a size small.

BUILD SPECS | Banshee doesn’t currently offer complete build bikes. Instead, they are able to offer their customers frame only and custom build options through their dealer network. They work closely with their dealers and rely on them heavily to get bikes to customers. Our test bike was prepared for us by BC suspension in Scotland, and is what their owner Ben would consider to be a typical mid to high-end build option.

The Banshee Phantom we tested was equipped with a full Shimano XT drivetrain; Rockshox Pike Ultimate and Fox Float X Performance Elite suspension, and a solid DT Swiss wheelset. Chromag provided the controls; and a Wolf Tooth dropper post topped with an Ergon saddle left little to be desired.

The braking choice was somewhat contentious, with a set of SRAM Level Stealth brakes with Galfer pads and discs. Providing traction was a grippy Maxxis Assegai and Dissector combo with Exo+ casing on both ends.

All of this weighed in at 14.6kgs (32.1 LBS), which is lighter than your average enduro rig however certainly on the heavier end of the Banshee Phantom’s typical travel class. This build has a retail price of £5,600 (appx $7,000 / €6,600 at time of test), but can be customized heavily to suit the rider preferences. The frame and shock retails for $2499 / £1995 / €2299.

THE DIRT

SETUP | Getting the Banshee Phantom all set up and ready for the trail was straightforward, as this was handled expertly by BC suspension. Upon collection everything was adjusted and fitted for me, ensuring I had a true-to-life Banshee customer experience. The suspension setup, bike fit and even saddle selection using Ergon’s measuring kit was all handled well and left me with only some minor suspension and tire pressure tweaks to make during the review process.

CLIMBING | With only 115 mm of rear wheel travel to manage, the Banshee Phantom does a decent job of keeping you high up in the travel and in a comfortable position whilst climbing. Seated pedaling generates little to no pedal bobbing, making fire road bashing and smoother single track climbs pleasant. Technical climbs are combated well by the Phantom’s nimble maneuvering capability; however the low BB would lend itself to the odd pedal strike if I wasn’t careful.

Through the roughest climbs with larger rocks and roots, the rear end would have a tendency to hook up ever so slightly. When combined with the lower engagement on offer in the DT240 hub, at times I was thrown out of rhythm in more technical climbs, leaving me to dab a foot.

Generally speaking, the Phantom performed well on the ascents and kept efficiency high, whilst remaining engaging and still somewhat interesting to pedal. I found myself often pushing for one or two more climbs on the Phantom knowing I was carrying less bike than usual.

DESCENDING | Coming into this review I wasn’t sure how much to expect out of the Phantom on the downhills.  On paper, the numbers suggest that the bike may be quite timid and reserved and more focused on the ascent. However, I found that the Phantom makes great use of the limited suspension travel it has, producing a surprisingly capable and really fun bike when pointed downhill

The Banshee Phantom certainly rewards an active riding style with precise line choice. The KS2 system generated more than enough pop to allow for easy hopping over and between some of the rougher sections of trail. At the same time, it generated plenty of traction to keep things under control in looser and steeper conditions. The ride characteristics of the Phantom taunted me into staying on the edge of the bike’s limit, which at times would lead to moments of false confidence. Without the extra travel that would generally make up for my lack of talent on a bike, I would get into trouble more often than on a longer travel machine. The combination of the low BB height and mid-length chainstay placed me in a very neutral but confident feeling position whilst descending, which contributes to that feeling that the Phantom is bigger than the numbers suggest.

I made sure to sample the Phantom’s capabilities across a wide range of trail types, and found that it almost always performed at least acceptably well. There wasn’t a day or location where I felt like I had the wrong bike with me. The Phantom happily made its way through steep, technical and rough trails often reserved for enduro bikes, however the more groomed flow trails notably stood out to me as somewhere this sort of bike shone very bright. The Phantom offered almost BMX style pop and handling whilst jumping and railing high speed corners. I was hilariously good fun, and left me feeling 90% of the riders at the same location were over biked for these types of trails.

The Phantom doesn’t break any records for weight, especially in its perceived travel class. However, it does a good job of disguising this weight whilst in motion, and rarely left me feeling sluggish on the trail as a result. It remained agile and playful at all times, bringing the party to just about every trail.

My one major disappointment with the descending capability of this particular build was in the braking performance. The Sram Level Stealth Bronze brakes fitted really lacked any sufficient power, despite having Galfer pads and rotors to boost their performance. I struggled to get the braking power to match the descending capability on tap with the Phantom, and felt this often let the bike down. The Phantom deserves more braking power than the numbers suggest!

Another small complaint was in the the Chromag carbon bars, which felt particularly stiff – especially for a 31.8mm handlebar . This led to discomfort in the hands on longer days out.

Overall, the Banshee Phantom breaks the barriers of its travel range, and makes for a very versatile, agile all-rounder. Above all else, it’s a fun bike to ride, and that’s what matters most at the end of the day.

FINISH AND VALUE | As completes aren’t on offer, it’s difficult to be critical on finish and value of components offered as part of a build. However, going off the Phantom frameset alone, the finish in this case is very high. With the detailed, well-engineered features throughout the frame mated with a Fox Performance Elite shock, the Banshee Phantom represents a well thought out and high-quality product. It performs very well and carries a price tag that can only be described as fair, especially in today’s market!

COMPONENT REPORT

Wolf Tooth dropper: I came away impressed with the performance of the Wolf Tooth Resolve dropper seat post and lever combo. The post had a sharp, fast response with a smooth action and a snappy throw at the lever. It was a pleasure to use and never missed a beat.

SRAM Level Stealth Bronze brakes: Touching on the brakes again, the SRAM Level Stealth Bronze brakes failed to offer the Phantom the braking power it deserves, and often let the bike down. I would strongly recommend looking at something with more power to match the downhill performance the Phantom has to offer.

The Wolf’s Last Word

The Banshee Phantom is a short travel trail ripper with long travel aspirations. It does a fantastic job of breaking the boundary of its perceived travel class, making it a strong all-rounder covering a large range of riding types and riders.

Potential buyers should make sure they specify more powerful brakes to match the Phantom’s downhill performance. But otherwise, a build kit like this £5,600 kit supplied by BC Suspension is likely to serve you well. 

Price: $2499 / £1995 / €2299 (Frame + Shock)
Website: Bansheebikes.com